Robin's Chicks

Humor columnist & author of "Ketchup is a Vegetable & Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves." Mothers across the country are reading & saying with a sigh of relief, "Thank God I'm not alone!" Go ahead, feel superior and have a laugh at her expense.

Robin's Answers

What's a parenting rule you should break and why?

"Teach your children to self-soothe. Never rock them to sleep."
Soon you will sleep. Soon your children will brush their own teeth and comb their own hair and roll their eyes when you try to give them a good night kiss. But right now? Right now they still think you are awesome. Right now, they giggle when you read with funny voices and think you are the smartest person in the world
Right NOW. While you are exhausted and dirty and (WHAT is that smell? Is that ME?) stretched so thin... they want more. They want five more minutes, one more song, another story. And soon, they'll hang a sign on the door that reads, "No Gron Ups Aloed." But right now, you still a member of their club, right now you have a chance to savor their sweet baby smell and listen to their innocence as they talk about anything and everything to delay bedtime for just five more minutes.
Gretchen Rubin says, "The days are long but the years are short."
Give them five more minutes, because right now, you still can.